BTW, I’m more a fan of the “bottom of a mousepad” method. That way I can say “I may be too weak to open this jar like a real man, but at least I’m geeky enough to know lots of creative uses for a mouse pad”

am missing how this makes the leap from a Lifehack to a Consumerist post? do i need to watch the demo to hear about the jam lobby and their secret memo’s that lay out their evil plans to make jars harder to open for inner city residents?

Second, holding a glass jar in your hand and smacking it on the counter like that is a really bad idea. For the same effect with less chance of injury, firmly smack the jar on the bottom with the palm of your hand. If that doesn’t work, hitting the lid on the counter won’t help.

My preferred method for stubborn jars is to strike the edge of the lid with the back of a butter knife, making 3-4 evenly spaced dents. Works every time.

A safe way to open a jar, which doesn’t require any apparatus, is to run it under hot water for 5-10 seconds. The heat expands the metal lid, creating space between the jar’s threads and the lid, and instantly facilitating twist off.

homerjay, most hate is directed at her simply because she’s a big target – she’s filling the role Martha Stewart played until she went all white-collar gangsta and went to jail. She’s also a face of what the Food Network has become. Food Network isn’t about cooking like it used to be, it’s now about celebrity chefs and shows with little content and broad appeal. The parallel here is MTv, used to be about music (that’s where the ‘M’ comes from kids) but now there’s no music on there anymore (VH1 or ‘Video Hits 1′ is like this now too. Only some videos in off hours). Same thing with the Food Network, the food isn’t there anymore. Food Network got rid of the real cooking shows in favor of RR and Sandra Lee showing us how to turn that can of Spaghetti-O’s into a wonderful meal by adding red pepper flakes and garlic powder.

Not to mention that she’s really, really, really annoying. I’d never seen her show until I went home for Thanksgiving and my brother turned it on. Just awful. The kind of person who, if you met her in person, you’d want to strangle within five seconds of her opening her mouth.

Ah, how nice it is to have actual hand strength. The most I have ever had to do in order to open a stubborn jar is dry the lid and my hands in order to get a better grip on it.

Rachael Ray is the ideal for many people: someone who knows how to take common ingredients and put a little spin on them to make them taste a little better. There are many people who just want to liven their food up a little without having to become a gourmet chef.

Alton is a genius, though. Everything important I learned about cooking, I learned from Alton. His show (Good Eats) just takes a LOT more effort to produce than those of Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee. That is why Food Network is flooded with Rachael (since she can knock out 20 episodes of 30-Minute Meals per week), but only has a relatively small number of Good Eats episodes to show us.